2014-05-05 - Did You Know You Can Use a Touchscreen With Your Tongue?
| Title: Did You Know You Can Use a Touchscreen With Your Tongue? | |
|---|---|
| Summary: Mamoru and Eri go to Fruits Parlor Crown after school so Mamoru can give Eri his old notes and they can study while there is coffee and chips. Usagi happens. | |
| Who: | |
| Where: Asakusa Traditional District | |
| OOC - IC Date: 9 January 2014 - 05/05/14 | |
<Pose Tracker> Mamoru Chiba [Ohtori Academy (11)] has posed.
There is a motorcycle parked outside the Crown; its owner is in the Fruits Parlor sitting at a booth for four, across from a girl. Mamoru Chiba's wearing a variation on the Ohtori high school boys' version, black and red and fitted, and his leather jacket's slung over the back of his side of the booth, and two motorcycle helmets sit on the table near the wall.
The reason for the larger table is obvious: there are textbooks and notebooks spread out, and an almost empty coffee carafe, and an almost empty basket of fries.
Mamoru pushes the short stack of spiral-bound notebooks over to Eri as he says, "And these are all my social studies notebooks from eighth grade. Obviously you'll want to make your own notes your own way, but you have the same teacher I did, so they might help anyway."
<Pose Tracker> Eri Shimanouchi [Ohtori Academy (8)] has posed.
Riding on a motorcycle with a boy was probably exactly the opposite of what her family had wanted to see during her banishment. Small wonder she'd done it as often as possible with Takeo and now Mamoru. Sitting across the booth from Mamoru in a slight variation on the Ohtori girl's uniform, that being a longer skirt, and leggings. Even so, it'd been one chilly ride.
Finally taking off her mittens, she steals another fry, taking a sip of coffee, before glowering at the notes. She brightened up a bit after what he said, "Hey thanks. I really hate social studies." Rubbing her eyes, she flips through the section on the Meji restoration. "But I'm pretty sure you already figured that out, since I bombed the exam."
And how. She'd never done that poorly before, but then again she had a lot of 'stuff' on her mind. Idly she comments, "Sorry about interrupting Mai-chan's dinner again."
<Pose Tracker> Mamoru Chiba [Ohtori Academy (11)] has posed.
"Yeah, no, I remember when we were studying for them, you had a lot going on," the upperclassman says, shaking his head. "You're a good student, though. Your grades matter to you, and you try, and you learn. So it's no problem. If you want to do a regular study group, I can try and show you what I find interesting about the subjects you hate-- there's always something worthwhile."
He reaches over to pick up the carafe and refill his black coffee, other hand moving to adjust his glasses. Even before he puts the carafe down and looks up, Mamoru's looking wry. "It's okay. Tsukino-san missed it entirely, and Tohika-san and I both knew it wasn't a date or anything, so no harm done. But that's part of what I wanted to talk to you about-- don't keep making assumptions that I'm dating people and then running with it. You're not the only one who does it, either. So anybody asks you, just tell them I said I don't date."
<Pose Tracker> Eri Shimanouchi [Ohtori Academy (8)] has posed.
"A lot going on?" Eri looks up, her expression wry, as she adjusts her glasses. Two weeks before finals she was laying in an alleyway, left mortally wounded and dying by another Puella Magi. The week after, she was booted out of her home, and forced to move into the dorms. As she considers it, she looks abstracted, "Yeah, I guess you could say that I had a lot going on."
Snapping out of it, she shakes her head, "The reason I don't find it interesting is because it's not 'accurate'. It's always written through the lens of the victors, then takes hundreds of years before people decide to look back and criticize it. Then there's this whole 'magical' history behind the scenes which apparently is the subtext of history even if it didn't always drive it." She slumps a little, "..just frustrating. I do care about my grades though, so I'll 'try' my best to study it."
Eri looks up, with a glimmer of amusement however her voice isn't teasing, "Tsukino-san? Not 'Usagi'?" After all. He'd not given Usagi an honorific in the text messages.
But then she holds up a hand, "Okay, wait. I'll take the blame for misinterpreting what you all said and making some pretty grossly wrong assumptions. My bad. I apologize. However a lot of things were said by Mai-chan and you which kind of kept leading me to them. I didn't want to just 'ask' though because I don't like prying into people's personal life unless they want to talk about it. So in the future, I promise I'll just try not to think on it at all. Okay?"
<Pose Tracker> Mamoru Chiba [Ohtori Academy (11)] has posed.
Mamoru Goddamned Chiba shakes his head, smiling crookedly. "I'm not mad at you. I'm just telling you there's no point in even being curious, because if I want to get into the college I'm aiming for, I really don't have time between school business and moonlighting."
Unfolding one of his long arms, the eleventh-grader tugs the fry basket a little closer, taking a few. "Anyway-- nothing with any subjective value to it can possibly be completely accurate," he says, totally unaware of how many layers of his life that sentence applies to. "The fun part is going and reading more points of view and putting together your own picture of the story, or at least being able to present the different takes. With that teacher, that'll even get you extra credit."
<Pose Tracker> Eri Shimanouchi [Ohtori Academy (8)] has posed.
"You and everyone else. I've got the high school entrance exams myself next year." Eri's face has so much gloom. So much gloooommmm. But then she brightens up, "What track do you even want to study at the university, Mamoru-kun?"
Plucking a fry out of the now shifted basket, she's tempted to toss it at him. But no, instead it enters her mouth, chew chew chew. "Yeah, but I value the straight up, unabashed truth, and I'm not so great at doing detective work with subjective accounts. That's probably why I'm a Puella Magi, rather than 'Magical Detective Loveline.'" Well besides her soul being a juicy despair engine.
At least the notes seem to be going over what'll be covered in class over the first few units! That's a plus! So this is like advance studying. Noting he didn't answer the question on Usagi though, she considers it for a while, and then tries to take her mind off of it, as per her promise!
Now she's thinking about it again. This was harder than she thought!
Looking through the notes of the Meji Restoration, her mind turned to the pictures of hopping bunnies. Look at the bunnies hop! It's so cute! Aww look that one's trying to stay awake! And look! That one's enjoying a radish! Oooooh how cute! She could just hug a bunny right about now.
Now puppies are giving the bunnies rides. So Kyuuutteee! And ohmigosh the bunnies have cowboy hats!
It was taking a supreme effort of will not to ask about Usagi, with her mind playing pictures of wild bunnies everywhere. After taking a bracing sip of coffee, she recentered herself.
<Pose Tracker> Usagi Tsukino [Juuban Public School (8)] has posed.
"WATCH OOOOUUUTTT--"
An air hockey puck comes flying up the stairs with such force that it ricochets off the ceiling, off the floor, off the wall, and then finally lands on the table in front of Mamoru. It whirls around with unspent speed, lazily drifting on its side in a small circle and maybe knocking over something important.
A blonde girl comes running up the stairs shortly afterward. She looks left and right, her twintails lashing about her, and then locks eyes on the missing puck. She skips over, snatches it up with an exaggerated item-get, and then realizes who is sitting before her.
Usagis eyes widen.
"Mamoru-san," she says, with careful neutrality. Her cheeks flush red. "The air hockey table... was a little crooked."
She offers Eri a small, nervous smile, and then dashes back downstairs.
<Pose Tracker> Mamoru Chiba [Ohtori Academy (11)] has posed.
Blissfully unaware of the torturous curiosity he's subjecting Eri-chan to, Mamoru washes his fries down with hot, bitter coffee and slouches back in his side of the booth. He laces his long fingers over his stomach, and the angle his head's at makes his glasses reflect the overhead lighting, obscuring his eyes. Yet, he's smiling a little.
"Medicine," he answers mildly. "It was hard to choose-- everything is interesting-- but I want to make people whole, and help them stay that way. The more ways I can do that, the more likely I am to succeed."
Then Usagi's yelling out of nowhere and Mamoru flinches in advance, giving the room a rapid once over and opening his senses, looking for panic or signs of a youma or something.
All of a sudden, there is a hockey puck and coffee everywhere and Mamoru clenches his teeth, silently taking out half the napkins in the dispenser and trying to do damage control. All he can think is at least it wasn't a sudden flying angry cat. That and 'coffee is hot'.
When Usagi comes up to collect the puck, he recognises her quick, slender hand instantly, and his coffee'd-napkin-free hand shoots out to grab her wrist, but she's too fast. When he looks up, her eyes are already widening.
He just stares at her incredulously as she neutrals and then absurds at him.
A sopping wet wad of coffee napkins goes sailing through the air and down the stairs after the blond girl.
<Pose Tracker> Usagi Tsukino [Juuban Public School (8)] has posed.
"--AAAAGH COFFEE NAPKIN!"
<Pose Tracker> Eri Shimanouchi [Ohtori Academy (8)] has posed.
"Ah, medicine. Like Ami-san." Eri scratches one arm with the other self-consciously. "That's what my Dad always wanted for me. I'm pretty sure I'd be a terrible physician though, and it's not what I want.."
'WATCH OOOOUUUTTT--'
"Wha.." Eri sees the air hockey projectile, and almost topples out of her seat, standing up into the aisle from the booth. For but a moment, something shining green might gleam in her clenched hand, before she watches the puck spin in front of Mamoru in place. Whatever is in her hand vanishes upon realizing this isn't some silver screen crisis, but just a coincidence.
A tiny breath is huffed out, as she gives the girl a slightly bemused look deciding whether it was 'planned' or not. Apparently she settles on it being entirely by chance. She then grabs a huge wad of napkins and helping Mamoru sop up what's on the table on his side to prevent it from getting all over the books, even if she leaves cleaning up himself, to.. well himself. Looking back at Mamoru, she slowly plops back down into place. "Hey, wait! Tsukino-san isn't it? You don't have to go.." She calls after her downstairs, watching the wad of sopped up coffee napkins sail after her, and her exaggerated response. She's quiet for a time, before stating. "Seems like the two of you keep meeting by chance, again and again." There, Usagi gave her her opening, without being too blatant.
<Pose Tracker> Mamoru Chiba [Ohtori Academy (11)] has posed.
At the horrifying *SPLUT* and the ensuing screech, Mamoru looks deeply satisfied. "Whoops, the food table was crooked, Odango Atama!" he calls over to the stairwell, cupping a hand around his mouth as he does.
Then, smirking, he turns to clean up the last of the spilled coffee, moving the fry basket and making sure none of them have gone soggy. "Chance. Ha. I'm doomed to have her throwing things at me forever."
<Pose Tracker> Eri Shimanouchi [Ohtori Academy (8)] has posed.
Silence.
And then giggling. "You're a horrible liar, Mamoru-kun." Glancing once again over her shoulder, she looks back at him, "Wait.. waiiitttt. This isn't the first time she's thrown things at you? And forever? Is this turning into like some ritual between you two? Do you really think she did that on purpose?"
Taking up more napkins, she sets the books and the notes aside, making /absolutely/ sure that its adequately dry so that nothing will be stained. "Well you've gotta be friends, otherwise why else would you invite her out to dinner with Mai-chan?"
<Pose Tracker> Usagi Tsukino [Juuban Public School (8)] has posed.
Mamoru's phone buzzes. It's a text.
/(=' - '=)\~USAGI: is that your girlfriend
<Pose Tracker> Mamoru Chiba [Ohtori Academy (11)] has posed.
"Who's lying?!" the upperclassman retorts indignantly, finally pouring the last cup of coffee from the carafe into his poor completely pucked mug. He hoards it close to him, lest another projectile endanger his caffeine, and eyes Eri over his glasses.
"It's never been on purpose that I can remember," he finally says, then laughs. "Of course we're friends." Not laughing anymore, but not overly worried-sounding, he finishes, "I think. I'm pretty sure."
Then his pocket buzzes, and he sips his coffee as he pulls out his phone. Lucky for him, he's already swallowed by the time he reads the text on the screen, or there would also be a spit-take. There is at least dark glowering at it.
Actively irritated now, Mamoru holds his phone out for Eri to read the screen. "This is what I'm talking about!" he says heatedly. "Except she's even worse than you've been about it-- every girl she sees me talking to, she asks if they're my girlfriend!"
He finishes his coffee with a slight wince, then clunks the mug back down on the table and pulls his phone back to type furiously.
MAMORU: omfg i TOLD YOU i don't have a girlfriend >:E you better rinse that coffee out with cold water fast, i think stained uniform shirts are out of dress code
<Pose Tracker> Eri Shimanouchi [Ohtori Academy (8)] has posed.
Eri tries to wobble the table, but it's solidly in place, and she in turn looks at Mamoru over her glasses, "This table is straighter than a traditional salaryman Mamoru-kun."
She breaks into a grin, as he admits that they're friends, "Well. She certainly seems like she's giving your life interesting turns at least. Dare I use the word, 'wacky'?"
Pouring herself more coffee, she is taking a sip when Mamoru holds up the text, and Eri has a moment where it looks like she'll spittake too, her cheeks all puffed up like some coffee chipmunk, before she swallows it. Turning around she shouts down the stairwell since presumably the air hockey table would have to be close, to get up to here, "TSUKINO-SAN! I AM /NOT/!" Fortunately she had the wherewithal not to shout down 'his girlfriend' after that.
<Pose Tracker> Usagi Tsukino [Juuban Public School (8)] has posed.
/(=' - '=)\~USAGI: mako-chan will help me with my stained clothing but SHE CAN'T FIX BEING A JERK SO I GUESS YOU'RE STUCK BLEHHHHHH (sticking my tongue out at the screen irl)
<Pose Tracker> Mamoru Chiba [Ohtori Academy (11)] has posed.
"Oh like the air hockey table was crooked," says Mamoru, rolling his eyes. He glosses cleanly over Eri's salaryman simile, eating another fry or two as Eri yells after Usagi too. "Furu's going to kick us out at this rate. Don't worry about--"
His phone buzzes again, and he glances down at it and snorts, then just starts laughing. "Wacky isn't really the right word for it. Interesting'll cover all the potential definitions. Oh my god, how do I even--" he trails off as he starts to thumb a message back, but types quickly.
MAMORU: did you know you can use a touchscreen with your tongue
Placing his phone back on the table, he looks back up at Eri, smiling lopsidedly. "Anyway, no, life is never boring with her around. Hey, do you need a ride back to Ohtori?"
<Pose Tracker> Usagi Tsukino [Juuban Public School (8)] has posed.
Meanwhile, downstairs: https://i.imgur.com/bkxE9ra.png
<Pose Tracker> Eri Shimanouchi [Ohtori Academy (8)] has posed.
"What, you think she knew we were up here? That she's 'that' innately good at geometry to aim it to bounce off all of those walls into your coffee?" Eri's expression right now is the epitome of 'Come on, don't be absurd.' "Yeah she was probably lying about the table being crooked but I bet she's just embarrassed. Probably thought it up on the fly. Did you ever think that maybe she just likes you? The way you two tease each other is pretty terrible it's like you're already.." She shakes her head, Nope, Nope, not even going there. OFF LIMITS. Instead she just trails off.
Instead she gives him a smile and starts gathering up the notes, "Yeah, I could use a ride back. Does she hang around here often? Think I wouldn't mind finding her some other time." She holds up a hand, "Promise I won't embarrass you though. I learned my lesson."
<Pose Tracker> Mamoru Chiba [Ohtori Academy (11)] has posed.
"No, no, I'm pretty sure she never actually knows I'm there when she starts throwing whatever she's throwing," Mamoru says, shaking his head and sliding out of the booth. He drags his jacket and satchel over, then leans way over to pick up the helmets and put them at the outside end of the table, ready.
As he's putting his textbooks away, he glances sidelong at Eri. "She doesn't like me. Not like that," he says after a rather telling pause, gaze shifting back to what he's doing. He closes the bag and tightens the straps, tugs on his jacket, then gets his wallet out to leave a tip on the table. "And yeah, she's here almost every day after school."
Why does he even know that.
He hands Eri another bill and the spare helmet, then scoops her bookbag up too. "Here, you go pay, I'm going to put these in the bike. Anyway-- she's definitely worth knowing. Just. God. Don't bug her about me."
Was that-- pleading? In his voice? Couldn't've been. Maybe it was resignation. Or, or, hey! It could be the sound of someone fearfully awaiting some kind of really uncivilized doom. But nah, it's probably just a new variation on 'terrible'; after all, what isn't?
Slinging both satchels over his shoulder, Mamo takes his helmet under his arm and heads for the stairs, giving Eri a crooked grin as he disappears, taking the steps two at a time.
And now to avoid getting wet-napkin-splattered on his way out. Every day is an adventure.
<Pose Tracker> Eri Shimanouchi [Ohtori Academy (8)] has posed.
Eri gives Mamoru a skeptical look, like 'Come. on.' in response to Usagi knowing exactly what she was doing, like this was some sort of elaborate setup for a heist movie. Well a heist movie involving air hockey.. pucks and coffee. It could happen.
However, Eri does shrug and take his word on 'not liking him, not like that.' She tended to take Mamoru at his word. "Alright, alright. I'll drop it."
Taking the bill, she glances up at Mamoru, "Okay, I promise I won't, beyond assuring her that I'm 'not' your girlfriend." Though somewhere in the back of her mind she wonders why Mamoru even 'cares' what Usagi thinks of him if that's the case.
Picking up her book bag, she saunters over to the counter and pays. As she walks by the staircase down from the parlor, she stares down there. Considering for a while going down there and saying something, but deciding against it. After a time, she just leaves and idly mentions to Mamoru. "Personally I think her odango are pretty cute anyhow."
<Pose Tracker> Mamoru Chiba [Ohtori Academy (11)] has posed.
And that's why Mamoru starts the motorcycle with a roar right then.
